CNM Update

Canadian NEW MEDIA assertions “serious, damaging and irresponsible”: CTV VP to CRTCCTV Inc. says it’s unable to find any producers upset that the Groundbreaker Fund was used to fund the massively popular Canadian Idol television series, and says the show introduced several uniquely Canadian elements and new interactive features that fulfill the fund’s mandate. In a letter written to the CRTC on July 18, CTV president of programming and chair of the media group Susanne Boyce says a Canadian NEW MEDIA July 11/03 story “contains a number of inaccurate statements respecting the Groundbreaker benefit.” A full copy of the letter is posted here. Further details will follow in subsequent issues of CNM. For the record, Boyce did not contact CNM with her concerns before sending the letter to the CRTC. Heavyweights in ICT urge “balanced” copyright reformInternet service providers, cablecos, telcos, public interest advocates, and retailers in Canada have banded together to create a Balanced Copyright Coalition to fight for consumer rights and the public interest in current copyright discussions. On September 15, the group wrote to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to urge parliamentarians not to adopt U.S.-style digital copyright laws, to promote strong fair use provisions, to argue against expanded private copying levies and against copyright term extensions. The coalition is made up of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Canadian Association of Internet Providers, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the CATA Alliance, the Canadian Cable Television Association, the Retail Council of Canada, Bell Canada, TELUS Corp., and lawyer Howard Knopf. It’s likely other noted fair copyright advocates will be asked to join. Canadian NEW MEDIA will have further details in its upcoming issue next week.TELUS wins national VOD licenceThe CRTC has approved an application by TELUS Communications Inc. to operate a national video-on-demand (VOD) service (Broadcasting Decision 2003-453). As a condition of licence, the telco-turned-broadcast distributor will be required to contribute 5% of its VOD revenues to an independent Canadian program production fund. That could prove good news for the new media industry as TELUS has an existing Telus New Media and Broadcast Fund, though that organization is not currently certified as an independent production fund like the Canadian Television Fund or the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund. It was not known at press time whether the company intends to put its new media fund on the same footing.IBM makes strides toward automating privacyIBM, working with Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, has created a new machine-readable version of the province’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The Act has been translated into the IBM-developed Enterprise Privacy Authorization Language (EPAL) that allows applications to automate privacy management tasks.Murmur launches in Vancouver September 25A technology-based art project, Murmur, is launching September 25 in Vancouver. The project consists of stories accessible by cell phone from around various locations in a city, and has already been seen in Montreal and Toronto. This time around, the project will be located in Vancouver’s Chinatown. It has been created by Terminus1525 and was supported by the New Media Innovation Centre.Cyber-athletes get chance to compete in TorontoHartco Corp., parent of the CompuSmart chain of computer retailers, is launching a national in-store tournament to qualify cyber-athletes for a chance to compete in Toronto where, in turn, 17 finalists will be chosen to compete in Korea in an international competition. Participants will network PC and consoles to play sporting or war simulation games. The tournament is sponsored by Samsung and concludes with the World Cyber Games Grand Final in Seoul, October 12-18.Markham interactive voter education site up and runningAn interactive web site developed by Toronto’s Delvinia Interactive Inc. has been launched to help voters understand the process for this year’s municipal election (CNM, June 13/03). The site has been partially funded by the CANARIE Inc./Canadian Heritage Applied Research in Interactive Media program. It is available at http://www.markhamvotes.ca/.

CNM Update

Broadcast | September 17, 2003

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